I just bought a 1990 Nissan Pathfinder 4x4 (for all my upcoming Pagan Festival gigs and other camping trips) at an auto auction. I thought I had made a great deal - $1900 total (including fees). However, it died on the way home, and there's no lemon law for auctioned vehicles.

So, after much work and many replaced parts, it appears that someone had poured gasket sealer into the gas tank and radiator. I had to have the gas tank removed and cleaned out, the fuel lines replaced, two new fuel pumps (warranty replacement of the first new one after IT died by a second after cleaning out ALL the remaining gunk from the system), fuel filter, and cleaning the injectors; plus a new thermostat, water pump, hoses, and radiator after flushing out the block. Add towing fees and other replacements (new battery and cables, etc.) and I'm now almost $4000 into a $3000 or so vehicle (see Auto Trader).

I've had to sell or pawn everything I had to cover it, my meager savings, my last two paychecks, my Social Security, plus borrow from relatives (there goes the next paycheck, as well - *G*). Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you... But I can't afford to have anything else to go wrong with it any time soon. So all good thoughts, wishes and energy for its continued health would be much appreciated just now. I'll take a pic tomorrow (it's too dark now) and post it to help with visualization.

It still is potentially a nice truck - the body and interior are in terrific shape for a '90. And it seems to be running pretty good now. It just needs to not have anything else unexpected go wrong for a couple months (brakes, tires, and CV boots are upcoming necessities soon - as well as a working stereo).

As a mechanic I feel your pain, lol. Sounds like the $4500 dollar Mazda SUV I had in Japan (they don't make it here in the states), that ended up costing me an additional 3 grand, and ended up selling for 1700 after I left the island. Majorly bad investment.

But also, being a guy who always believed in the term "machine empathy" myself, vehicles take a little time to learn and become familiar with, like all other machinery. Take this from a guy who has put his hand on a playstation before and made a scratched game CD work perfectly after about a dozen attempts to make it run. I don't know, just one of my "things" I can do. Vehicles have a personality all their own because they were crafted by humans, like any majickal device would be. Until they figure out a way to completely automate the entire process, from scratch (and I mean "everything", like casting the steel parts and assembling every single inch of the engine and drive train), some essential part of every vehicle will be invested with energy. You just have to tap into it and get that thing tuned into you.

With my latest baby, 2000 black and chrome 4WD, manual transmission Tacoma (my dream come true), its been a matter of finding what music she likes. I know you said you need a working stereo. Doesn't have to be a monster, $2000 earth shaker system. Just something to pipe some tunes thru that little girl's body panels and wake her up to you. Vehicles talk, you just gotta listen. And yes, things do go wrong. .....coz its manmade. The craftsmanship is a blessing and a curse. So I'll welcome what pic you may be able to post and feel free to shoot me an email if you want with more details of that baby's probs. I'm serious about this stuff. I know it sounds a little goofy, but I'm good at it.

I'm sure you knew most of this stuff already, but I just wanted to lend a helping voice of advice to you. If I thought my brother there in Cartersville (ASE Certified Master tech) would be willing, I'd send him your way, but he's a jerk when it comes to favors. So I'll do what I can on my end.

I understand completely. One of my gifts is electronic equipment. Most things that push electrons like me. I can make some stuff work by the laying on of hands, and can usually tell what's wrong before opening the covers.

Cars and I are not on the same wavelength in that way. But I still treat them with respect and try to manage the energy around them. My brother came up with the suggestion that someone having the vehicle repossessed did the gasket sealer trick. So there's a lot of bad ju-ju there.

Oops - I forgot to take a pic - and then since I'm on Basic Delphi, I'll have to email it to somebody else to post. But so far, it's doing well - keep those cards and letters coming!